You are missing the point, and trying to explain something I understand. I suppose the thread title should be, "those lying statistics." They chose those questions for the exact reasons listed in your comment about confirmation bias. Because they know people will put a false factual statement in opinion and an opinion statement that is fact in the wrong place. I think its interesting, the depths they go to come up with these hit pieces, and the way they lay things out to get their wanted results.
I think you are missing or ignoring the point of the survey, and IMO it was not for the purpose listed. Or maybe the world is a game of checkers and I am looking at it wrong.
Regardless of the question, falling prey to confirmation bias is a failure to identify opinion.
Most people will read the title of the article and move on, never seeing what questions were asked. I’ve not looked, and could well be wrong, but would surmise that the left/right split is greater along th fault separating self identifying democrats from self identifying republicans than it is between 18-49 and 50-above. The questions were asked- I would guess- because they are related to current events, cover areas of strong disagreement, play into the “fake news” cycle from both sides of the isle, and are strongly influenced by confirmation bias. Yes, the people that authored the survey were testing confirmation bias. In the absence of confirmation bias the difference between fact (or observation based statements) and opinion are- literally- night and day. “The Effects of Age on Confirmation Bias” sounds like a title for a journal article- just what you need to have it NOT read.
One more example on why the questions may have been chosen.
3 inches of rain fell in Hallestville Texas over the weekend.
Rainy days are the worst days.
7000 immigrants are currently making their way toward the southern border of the United States.
Immigration is the biggest issue facing our nation today.
There are 4 statements that you might hear on the news. Of those, 2 are factual statements and 2 are opinion statements. But, depending upon your own bias, one of those opinions look more like a fact than the other.
Then again, maybe I’m just slow. Perhaps the authors picked those questions to trick people into saying that things that are untrue actually are. It’s just a giant conspiracy to get old people to say that BO was born in Hawaii. I just cannot see how this is such an issue to understand. Then again, I’m younger than 50 and have never been a conspiracy theorist.
I looked at the premise of the survey and dusted off my test taking strategies. Which statements rely on quantifiable data? Which statements rely on observables? Those are factual statements. Which statements rely on hyperbole, subjective adjectives, or are not quantifiable? Those are opinion statements. What each of the statements say is irrelavent to the test.
